Trending: Ducks are not chickens

Did you spot our new ducklings on Instagram last week?  We now have 10 pekin ducklings that we are going to raise for meat.  And after raising hundreds of chickens, we are learning that ducks are a very different bird.  We have a ways to go before we feel more confident about ducks, but here are our initial impressions.

Putting the broilers out to pasture and building a bigger coop

Let’s get right to it. We’ve been busy lately.  The garden is mostly planted. The broilers are now outside. The new chicken coop is about 80% finished.  But boy has it been a lot of work to get to this point!  

Broiler update and our first harvest for a seasonal pie

What a lovely weekend that was!  Forget the ticks and black flies… and mosquitoes… it was a wonderful weekend for some work and play.  

Today’s the Day

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a fan of podcasts.  They are perfect for surviving commutes and help me stay focused when I’m doing chores.  One of my all-time favorite podcasts is the storytelling podcast, Risk, where the whole idea is for people to tell stories “they never thought they’d dare to share.” They are taking a risk telling the story, but also, a lot of the stories come from a place of true risk-taking.  At the end of every single episode, host Kevin Allison sends out his encouragement by saying “Folks, today’s the day. Take a risk.” Every time I hear Kevin say this, I find myself wondering what risks there are that I’m avoiding taking.  What are we holding back on because we’re afraid of it not working out? 

Farm letter: Welcome baby chicks

After much thought, calculation, and preparation, the broiler chicks have arrived. They are a feisty bunch,  with some being so bold that they charge and peck at our fingers.  This is what we want, though. Active birds.  Broilers have a reputation of being lazy and prone to health issues, so we do a lot to encourage activity in our birds.

Are we really a farm?

Ferrin Brook Farm might not actually be a farm. Aren’t farms supposed to be run like businesses? They’re supposed to be 100% dedicated to raising food to sell, right? Frankly, we’re just a house with some land where it’s OK to raise animals. As for what we actually sell, that’s just chickens, maybe some maple sugar, and the occasional dozen eggs. Everything else we do is for our family to eat. So are we really a bona fide farm?

Weekly Letter – pulling taps and ripping out old chicken coops

Hi Friends! We pulled all the taps over the weekend.  Maple syrup season is over for us.  Are we sad to see it go? Not exactly.  We went through a lot of sap this year!

Weekly letter – The maples shut down, so let’s make birch syrup

Hi friends!  What a wild sugaring season we’ve had!  So many times we thought the trees would be running and they didn’t.  Or they ran and ran and ran for a few days and we were practically swimming in unexpected sap.  Such is the way of spring and its transition.

Weekly letter – make your own maple sap and chicken orders

Hello friends! We have had a pretty great week for sugaring! The weather has been generally more favorable to get the sap running and we’ve had some really good days, including one 24 hour period where we got almost 2 gallons of sap per tap! 

Keeping chickens is better than having a dog and here’s why

People think dogs are so great. A lot of people, in fact. I read somewhere that they are in more households than any other pet in the U.S.A. And I’m no exception–save for the years around college, I don’t think more than a few weeks of my life have passed without having a dog in my home. But, if you really think about it, are dogs really THAT great? Chickens, on the other hand… now there’s an animal that’s worth owning!